Wednesday, 10 February, 2021 - 06:45
The Arab League secretary-general receives GNA FM Mohamed Siala in Cairo on Tuesday. (Asharq Al-Awsat) Cairo - Khaled Mahmoud
The new “troika” of the executive authority in Libya held its first virtual meeting on Tuesday to discuss the formation of a new government.
Head of the new Presidential Council Mohammed al-Menfi chaired the meeting that was attended by his two deputies, Abdullah al-Lafi and Moussa al-Koni, and Prime Minister-designate Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh.
They discussed efforts to form a new government within the set deadline, ahead of presenting its ministerial agenda and submitting the lineup to a vote at parliament. They stressed the need to expand consultations to include members of the parliament and national dialogue forum.
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February 2, 2021
A sign marking the U.N. buffer zone stands on the southern Greek side of the Ledra Crossing of the Green Line in Nicosia, Cyprus. The other side of the fence is the northern Turkish side. (Photo: By Jpatokal - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0)
NICOSIA After decades of stalemate, international negotiators will try, once again, to restart talks between Greek and Turkish Cypriots over the divided eastern Mediterranean island of Cyprus.
But this time, the dynamics have fundamentally shifted, with the Turkish side now pushing for a two-state solution instead of the decades-long goal of reunification.
The United Nations has been trying, unsuccessfully, to reunite the ethnically divided island of Cyprus since 1974, when Turkish forces invaded the northern part following a coup by Greek army officers who sought to unite Cyprus with Greece.
Libyan delegates at UN-backed talks began voting Friday for a transitional prime minister and three-member presidency council to govern the war-ravaged North African country until December elections. They were voting on four alternative line-ups for the four posts: prime minister, president of the presidency council and two further members of the presidency council.
Friday, 5 February, 2021 - 12:30
Overview of the first day of the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum at an undisclosed location, Switzerland. (UN via Reuters) Asharq Al-Awsat
UN sponsored talks produced a new interim government for Libya on Friday aimed at resolving a decade of chaos, division and violence by holding national elections later this year.
Mohammed al-Menfi, a former diplomat from Benghazi, will head a three-man presidency council, while Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh, from the western city of Misrata, will head the government as prime minister.
Libya has been engulfed in chaos since a NATO-backed intervention ended Moammar al-Gaddafi’s rule in 2011 and has been split since 2014 between warring administrations in the west and east.